Chapter Three:

The next day I woke up to balloons surrounding my room. They were on the floor, in the air, and on the ceiling.

Y

The balloons started flashing. Today was August 8th. My birthday.

I went to the bathroom, kicking up balloons as I went. On a hook on the bathroom door was a beautiful plum dress, a note attached.

While you were busy getting sized for your robes, I slipped a note asking Madam Malkin's to make this for you.

R

I set the note on the counter and turned the shower water on. Stepping on the stone floor, I let the water run down my face. I scrubbed the sleep from my eyes and washed up.

I toweled off and stood in front of the dress, examining it. It had lace, long sleeves, and stopped above the knee. I brushed my teeth, instantly dried my hair with my wand and put on my dress. I twirled in front of the mirror checking out how the dress looked. It fit me perfectly. I put on my make up and went down the stairs.

Ron was waiting for me at the bottom. He did a gentlemanly bow and took my hand. Kissing it he said, "Happy birthday. You look lovely."

I smiled and thanked him for the dress. I went to Damen's room and he was wearing a little suit to match my dress. "Sissy," he ran up to me. "Happy birthday!" He hugged me and ran out the room.

I turned around and Ron was standing in the doorway, a bouquet of purple flowers in his hands. I smiled and said, "You didn't have to go through all this trouble." I took the flowers and sent them up to my room, hoping they made it to my bedside table.

"Yes, yes I did. And it wasn't any trouble. I lo-" I interrupted what he was going to say with kissing his lips softly.

Before either of us could choose to deepen the kiss or pull away, a masculine cough followed by a throat clearing noise came from behind us.

We pulled away from each other, our cheeks turning red. "Happy birthday, Kyleigh," Harry said.

"Thanks," I said. And gave him a hug.

We walked downstairs to see that instead of eating inside, the back doors were opened and everyone was outside. There were a few more people this time. I noticed some extra redheads in the group. An older man, with a sprinkle of gray hairs standing next to Mrs. Weasley, "Ah, there you are dear. Happy birthday." Mrs. Weasley walked up and hugged me, "This is my husband, Arthur," she pointed to the man that had been standing next to her. "George," pointing to a redhead with a missing ear. "Percy," who waved his hand in hello and pushed his glasses up. "The others you'll meet later. Now, it's a lovely day, let's enjoy being outside while we can. It's supposed to rain later on."

We heard the first rumbling of thunder a few hours later. I was teaching everyone how to play American Football. I had changed into some shorts and a tank top so I wouldn't get dirty. I was playing quarterback on my team. It was girls VS boys. I had just thrown the ball to Ginny, when Ron tackled me.

I looked into his eyes briefly. "Foul," I cried out.

"How so?" he replied tickling me.

Before I could respond, a clap of thunder rolled by.

"Game's over kids," Mr. Weasley said, looking up at the now blackened sky. We ran inside, some of us getting soaked as the rain poured down.

After we were all dried and back in clean clothes, we were sitting in the living room, talking. "What do you want to do the rest of the day, birthday girl?" Harry asked.

"Let's go see a movie," I replied.

"That's a lovely idea," Mrs. Weasley said. "I'll put Damen to bed and the 7 of you kids can go."

"I'd love to, but I have to get back to work," Percy said, kissing his mother on the cheek. "Happy birthday, it was nice meeting you," he said to me, and with a pop he was gone.

"Sorry about him, my dear, he's all work and no play. The 6 of you can go, you guys can show her around maybe take her shopping."

"I'll go to the movies, but after that I'm out. Shopping is for girls," George said.

I turned to look at the others, "Any other objections?"

They all shook their heads and with that we were gone. I picked a movie and noticed the line at the concession stand. "You go get us some seats, I'll stay and wait in line," Ginny said to us. Harry stayed with her. Hermione and George left to use the restrooms beforehand and that left Ron and I to find seats. It was pretty packed, but we found a section off to the side, up top, that had exactly 6 seats; 2 rows of 3.

Ron sat at the first row and I sat behind him. "I'm glad you like my dress," Ron said. I had put the dress back on after the football skirmish we had. I did like it. The style and the way it felt. Plus, Ron had it especially made for me.

Hermione came in the auditorium, I saw her looking around for us, so I waved at her. She came bouncing up the stairs. "I'm so glad I decided to use the restroom, as soon as was done, the line got long." She went around Ron and chose to sit by the wall, a seat in between her and Ron.

Next, Ginny and Harry came running up the stairs. Ginny plopped down next to Hermione, Harry started to sit on my row when Ron hopped up and gestured to his seat. Ron sat next to me while we waited on George. Ginny handed us a huge popcorn and drink to share, some Reese's pieces and gummy bears. We were set. George walked up with a handful of junk. He had a drink, popcorn, a couple of trays of nachos and candy all doing a balancing act on his hands and arms. He handed Ron one of the nacho trays and sat down next to Ron.

The lights dimmed and the trailers began. Ron and I placed our arms down on the armrest at the same time. Instead of moving my arm away, I wrapped my fingers around his. I was getting tired of denying my feelings and hurting him. This was still all too new, but I was going with it. After all, it felt natural.

When the movie was over with, George left us. He kissed my cheek and said, "I really hope you had a wonderful birthday. I need to go check on my shop, I'm not leaving because of what I said earlier. Shopping isn't just for girls."

"I'm starving," Ron said as his stomach rumbled.

"Merlin's beard, Ronald. How can you be starving, you just ate popcorn, nachos, and candy?" Hermione asked.

Ron shrugged and said sheepishly, "I need some meat."

We walked around, Ginny and Harry holding hands, Hermione in the front, and Ron and I in the back. We didn't hold hands, we just stood close to another so that we could feel the warmth of the other.

"There," Ron said, pointing to one of the restaurants across the street.

We crossed the street and went inside. We had to wait a few minutes, so we talked about the movie. When it was time to be seated, us girls decided to go to the ladies room.

"Why do they always travel in packs to use the restroom?" Ron asked.

"Remember the troll incident," was Harry's reply.

We entered the ladies room and Hermione turned to me and said, "Spill. I know there's something going on between you and Ron. You better not hurt him."

"Geeze, Hermione. Calm down," Ginny said stepping in between us. Hermione had gotten her wand out and aimed it at me when she was talking.

"I'm not going to lie and say there isn't something going on, but I will say we're not dating."

I stepped around the two and into a stall. I could hear them whispering vigorously.

We walked back to the table, Ginny and Hermione sliding in the booth next to Harry, and I slid in the booth next to Ron.

The waitress came back with our drinks that we had ordered before our bathroom break. I squeezed some lemon in my water, and took a sip.

We looked at the menus for a few before deciding on what we wanted to eat.

When we were done eating, we decided to go shopping. We went to a few muggle stores, trying on clothes and doing girly things. We made the boys hold our purchases.

The last store we went into was a classy store. There were evening gowns and tuxedos, as well as ladies pantsuits. We grabbed a few different gowns to try on and headed to the fitting rooms.

I went to put the first dress on, but couldn't zip it up in the back. "Ginny?" I called. There was no answer. "Hermione?" I tried. Still nothing. "I need help zipping up, this isn't funny guys." I peeked around the curtain and the only person I saw was Ron, looking at his reflection in the 3 way mirror. He had put on a tux with an emerald green vest.

"Do you mind helping me zip up?" I asked him.

He walked towards my room and stepped in, the curtain fell shut and I looked at our reflections in the mirror. He was concentrating on zipping me up. His red hair falling in his eyes, he tried to blow the hair away. But it kept falling back, covering his eyes.

My legs were getting weak with every stroke of his fingers going up my back. When he was done, I leaned into him. He smelled like the forest after an early spring rain.

I closed my eyes and turned my head into his chest.

He wrapped his arms around me and we just stood there.

Finally, I stepped out of his embrace and said, "Let's go find the others."

After we found them, we decided it was getting late and we needed to get back to the manor. I didn't feel comfortable letting Mrs. Weasley watch Damen for so long while we goofed off.

We got back to the house, and it was eerily quiet.

I opened the door and heard, "Surprise!" as the lights popped on and Mrs. Weasley stepped out of the kitchen with a little birthday cake.

"You guys, you shouldn't have!" I said crying with how happy I was. "This is too much. You have been so kind to me."

I blew my birthday candles out wishing that my new life would never change.

I wish things would continue being this great.

A flash of lightning and thunder clapped outside the house. At the time, I didn't think anything about the foreboding of the storm hitting just as I had finished my wish.

I opened presents and had a good time. Mrs. Weasley was kind enough to invite Aunt Narcissa and Draco along with some of my soon to be classmates at Hogwarts. The house-elves and taken away our bags and put them away so we could enjoy the party. Even Damen was having a blast. Ron and I barely had time to talk, I was whisked away and introduced to this person or that person. Kingsley had even stopped by.

Hours flew by until it was just the Weasleys, Harry, Hermione, Damen and myself. I turned to them and said, "Thank you guys so much for everything. You have made the loss of my parents much more bearable than I would have ever imagined. I honestly don't know what I would have done without your help, especially yours, Mrs. Weasley."

Damen had fallen asleep on the couch, so I scooped him up and carried him up the stairs. Everyone else began cleaning up the mess from the party. I tucked Damen into his bed, kissed his forehead and said, "Sleep tight buddy boy. I love you."

I went back downstairs to see if there was anything I could do to help clean up. Everything had already been cleaned up, with that many hands, I guess it wouldn't take long to clean up the mess.

"Good night," Mrs. Weasley said, ushering everyone out the door. The only person left was Ron.

"Here," he said handing me a small box, it was wrapped in green paper with a purple bow on top.

I opened my present and inside was a silver, heart shaped locket. I opened the locket and engraved inside was I give my heart to you, written inside.

I flung my arms around Ron's neck and planted a kiss on his lips. He lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around his hips. I ran my hands through his hair and deepened the kiss. He walked towards the door and pushed me up against it. He began kissing down my neck, as I clawed his back. My whole body was on fire. I couldn't think straight. But I knew that we had to slow down. I wasn't ready. I gently pushed him back as I unwrapped my legs from his waist.

"Too fast," I said, trying to catch my breath. My heart was racing. I bit my bottom lip and looked up at him. "Did you.. Did you want… Do you want to stay the nightwithme?" I gushed out before I could take the words back.

His eyes lit up. He picked me up, jogging up the flight of stairs, down the hallway and up the spiral staircase. He set me down once we had reached my room. I walked into the bathroom and turned on the water to the tub. I poured some bubble bath in, stripped, and climbed in. "You coming?" I asked Ron, who was still out in the bedroom.

He appeared in the doorway, eyes bugging out of their sockets when he saw me in the tub. He immediately began stripping, so I closed my eyes until I heard him step into the tub. When I opened them, I immediately splashed Ron, who splashed me right back. I "swam" beside him and leaned my head against him.

We didn't speak for several moments. He just took my hand and intertwined our fingers. I went under the water to get my hair wet and "swam" to the other side of the tub. I leaned over the tub, grabbed my wand off the floor and lowered the lights in the room.

Ron grabbed the shampoo and began lathering my hair. He massaged the shampoo into my scalp. I moaned and relaxed into his touch. He lowered his touch, and started massaging my neck and back. His touch was euphoric. I felt water washing away the soap on my body and leaned back so my hair could get rinsed.

I turned around took the bar of soap that was still in Ron's hands from him. I got my hands soapy and began massaging his chest as I leaned in to kiss him gently on the lips. I went around behind him and massaged his neck and back. I grabbed the bottle of shampoo and squirted some out onto my hands and began running my hands through his hair. I made circular motions with my fingers, massaging his head like he had mine.

When I noticed the bubbles were starting to go away, I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around my body before stepping out of the tub. I walked into my room and towards my walk in closet. I saw my shopping bags sitting on the floor, so I searched for the one I wanted.

I finally found my nightgown I had picked out when the guys weren't around and put it on. I looked in the mirror. My black hair caressing my body, pale skin still glistening from the bath. I had only dried my hair with my wand on the way to the closet. The blood red silk night gown, clinging to my wet skin. I grabbed my other purchase from the bag, a lacy black robe (a night robe, not a wizarding robe). I curled my hair with my fingers and thought, 'Here goes nothing,' before stepping out of the closet.

Ron's jaw dropped when he saw me standing in the doorway of the closet. He had gone to the couch to lay down, but peeked his head up when he heard the door open. I sauntered over to my bed and laid down in it. I looked at him and patted the bed next to me, "There's plenty of room."

Before I could finish, Ron was up and in the bed next to me. He pulled me close to him and kissed the top of my head. "You look gorgeous," he said into my hair. My hands roamed down his back, across his sides, and up his chest. He cupped my face and leaned down, kissing me. "Good night," he said.

"Good night," I said back and rolled over, wiggling backwards until my back was against his chest. He wrapped his arms around me and we were instantly asleep.